ANOTHER Digidestined? Playing the cards...
by Razorpack
Summary: Deals with the aftermath of ep 54. And Mimi's new friend winds up as a Digidestined...but where's his Digivice?
1. ANOTHER Digidestined? Dealing the card...

ANOTHER Digidestined?

Chapter 1:

Playing the cards...

by Razorpack

Legal crap: I don't own Digimon. I DO own Ben Curtis, Blancmon, Raedmon and Razormon (not to mention my name...). The Shield Belt, Redeemer and ASDL Shock Rifle belong to whoever made Unreal. Gameranger and 'Evill' belong to Scott McKniel. Rainbow Six belongs to someone as well, but who cares? Total Annihilation is da best damn RTS-game ever, so I think I should say that it belongs to Cavedog Entertainment and a TON of other companies (now NO ONE can sue me! mwahaha! *Hach, cough*). I'd rate this as PG, somewhere around 13, for the graphic violence and

mild swearing. And if you nice people give me lots of good replies, I'll make another fic. ^_^

Note: This is my 1st Digimon fic! Please don't flame for it being rubbish compared to others' fics. Besides, I've got a few Pokémon fics on the Net somewhere...

*yo raz! bet u cant avoid dis!*

"DIE BITCH!!!" yelled Raz.

*BOOM*

RS_Evill's killing spree was ended by RSRazorpack|OHM|! RSRazorpack|OHM| has taken the lead!

*wtf?* typed Evill.

*no1 can beat me with redeemer when i have shock rifle. u forget i aim AND run back. redeemer missile easy 2 hit*

*no! u ruined my chance @ godlike on multi!*

*hahaha*

*i h8 u*

*wanna play new game?*

*sorry, gtg. L8r.*

*cya, next time DON'T use redeemer! haha*

RS_Evill has left the game room

Ben stretched and yawned. That match was harder than he cared to admit. Evill had almost knocked him from his position as Sub-Op in Rogue Squadron! He was lucky that Evill made the newbie mistake: using the Redeemer in medium range battle. Of course, the blast range was massive and powerful, but it also meant that shooting the rocket right after it was shot would kill the firer. He had been hit as well, but the Shield Belt had taken most of the damage. He smiled at the thought of becoming Commander. He just needed to beat Shokk at Rainbow Six, and that title would be his! He hoped Shokk would be on GameRanger tonight, he wanted a challenge. He had, after all, practically slaughtered Prodigious at Ares, and Logg, the self-proclaimed best strategist on GR, ate humble pie against Ben 'Razorpack' Curtis in Risk II and Total Annihilation. And now Razorpack was Squad champion of Unreal Tournament, Risk II, TA, Ares and good ol' Marathon Infinity.

"Ben! What are you still doing here?" asked his mother crossly. "I thought you said you had to help that new student with her studies!"

"I did." he replied, confused about her outburst. "What did I do now?"

"It's quarter to 5."

Realization dawned on Ben's face. He had 15 minutes to get his schoolwork together and get to the mall! And it was on the other side of town! He turned off his computer, gathered his books, and rushed out of the room. He scrambled down the stairs like a bat out of hell, raced into the garage and grabbed his rollerblades.

"Do you really think that they'll let you the mall with those on?" asked his mother while he put them on.

"Don't worry, I got my gym shoes in the bag." He leapt up, gave his mother a quick hug, and raced down the street.

In Digiworld...

Palmon sat on a tree branch, looking at the afternoon sky. She'd been doing this every day for the past 3 months, waiting, searching.

"I just can't take it anymore!" growls Gabumon. He slams a paw in a nearby tree in frustration. "It's bad enough that Matt and the others had to go, now to see her like that..." he said, reffering to Palmon's sad mood.

"We're all sad about them leaving, Gabumon." said Agumon.

"But Palmon's taking it worse than any of us."

"It breaks my heart to see her so unhappy." added Biyomon.

"I just wish that there was someway we could talk to her, to ease the pain." said Tentomon.

"Without Matt my life has no purpose. I was destined to become his friend for life, to protect him no matter what. And what if he had an accident in his world? I wouldn't be able to help him!"

Silence followed, as Agumon, Tentomon, Gabumon and Biyomon quietly reminisced their adventures with their partners.

"Do you think they might have forgotten us?" asked Palmon. Everyone looked at her in surprise. They hadn't noticed that she had climbed out of her tree. Suddenly, Gabumon got angry as her words registered.

"How DARE you think that! They would never forget us, even if they lived to be 10,000 digiyears old! They are our friends for life!"

"Easy Gabumon," soothed Agumon. He gave Palmon a hurt look. "How could you think that little of Matt or Tai. Or even Mimi? They'll never forget us, and we'll never forget them."

"The despair's getting to us. The pain of being without Sora is unbareable. I guess we're all losing faith." said Biyomon.

"I'm not going to give up on them! I'm not going to drown in my own despair! I didn't become Tai's guardian because I was too afraid to face danger, to face pain! He NEVER gave up on us, why should we give up on him and the others?"

"But it's impossible to reach them, Agumon." said Tentomon dejectedly. "The portal's closed forever."

"If there's one thing I learned being with Tai is that NOTHING is impossible. Remember when Devimon split up File Island? On our own we didn't have a chance, but we regrouped and deleted him! Remember when we had to look for Kari? It was like looking for a needle in a giant haystack, but we found her and stopped Myotismon! Remember when we fought the Dark Masters? Th-"

Gabumon chuckled.

"You're right. It always seemed impossible but we made it through. We always were about to be destroyed, or both worlds falling apart, but with them we stopped even Apocalymon!"

"But we're not with them. They've gone home. The portal's closed, and there's nothing we can do to open it." Said Palmon

Agumon looked at the ground in defeat.

"Bright ray of sunshine aren't you?" said Tentomon.

In Japan...

Sora dodged the attacker and ran to the left. She dribbled past 2 more defenders, then passed the ball to a kid called Oshi. He managed to dodge another kid, but was tripped by a sliding tackle from the opposite team. Lui, the enemy team captain, took control of the ball and steamed down the field. Tai ran to stop him, but Lui ran passed him as if he wasn't there. There was now only the goal keeper, Jin, and Nathan in between Lui and the goal. Tai grimaced. He liked the new kid, but his soccer skills could be better. He hoped against hope that Jin would be able stop the ball if Nathan couldn't get it. Nathan ran forward feinting to jump to the left but instead went straight on. Lui fell for the ploy, but he somehow managed to weave around Nathan without stopping.

"Come on Jin, we're depending on you." said Tai to himself.

"Go Jin! You can do it!" encouraged Sora.

Jin looked nervous, and with good reason. This was the first proper match for Taichi's team this season, and he didn't want to let his new friend down. He was now preparing to stop the ball from going into the net in front of 200 people. To make things worse, this next goal would be significant for Lui's team. If Lui scored, his team would be leading 4-3, and Jin didn't think that there was enough time for Taichi or the others to score 2 more goals. He readied himself, and crouched low. The next moment will define the whole match.

Lui smiled inwardly. He was going to win! He didn't know how good the new goalie was, but he could tell that he was very nervous. They make it so easy for me. They're relying on a last-minute geek who probably couldn't tie his own shoelaces. He got into a good striking range. Left or right? he thought. Wait, yes...

Lui reached back and hit the ball with all his might. Yes! The kid had fallen for it!

Time seemed to slow down for Jin. He knew, before Lui had even hit the ball, that Lui had scored. At the last possible millisecond, he looked as though he was going to aim to the right. Jin dived, his fingers outstretched, and even in slow-mo the ball was moving fast. Right towards the middle of the goal. Sorry guys, I let you down, thought Jin sadly.

*WHUP!*

Sora was speechless. The ball, instead of flying over Jin's legs and into the goal, had slammed into his stomach. Hard. Ohmygod! A flood of unvoiced questions came to her, and she ran to Jin's side. God, PLEASE let him be all right!

Tai closed his eyes in defeat. It was going so well! He heard the ball hitting something, and the collective gasp of the crowd. He opend his eyes, and saw Sora running towards Jin. And Tai wished he had never turned to look.

End Chapter 1

How was it? I'm sorry about the ungodly long disclaimer, but I REALLY don't want anyone to get mad at me for not giving them the credit they deserve (and I stress deserve). Comments? Opinions? Please tell me! Razorpack@excite.com


	2. ANOTHER Digidestined? ...and playing t...

ANOTHER Digidestined?

Chapter 2:

...and dealing them

by Razorpack

Legal crap: Just look at Chapter 1, it's got the main stuff...

Note: All **bold** text is Japanese.

"The sixth sheep's sick sheiks's sixth."

****

"Almost. Try again."

"The sixth sheik's sick sheep's sixth."

****

"You're getting there."

"The sixth sheik's sixth sheep's sick?"

Ben smiled at the teen sitting across the table. He reached for his drink and took a long gulp.

****

"Perfect. You're finally getting these right."

****

"But they're just so complicated! They're not even homework!"

"Hey, if you can do tongue-twisters, you'll have no problem with normal texts. The whole point of the exercise is for you to read what's in front of you without problem."

"Sigh. Well, at least I've completed it."

Ben stared at her while she rummaged through her bag looking for her homework. `I wonder if all the girls in Japan are this good looking? He found himself thinking. He snapped out of his 'trance' as she found her book.

"Miss Day-Vees say we have do this stuff tomorrow." she attempted.

She pushed her book to Ben and indicated the exercise. Ben chuckled inwardly.

****

"It's pronounced 'Davies'. **And that sentence was wrong. It's** 'Miss Davies said we had to do this for tomorrow.' **Let's see... Basically, you have to do a short essay on your favorite things. You know, favorite clothes, foods, subjects, and yadayadayada."**

****

"Oh."

Great. Just as I was planning to go to that new fashion show. It'll probably take me all night to do this. She looked at the floor with a sad look. Ben noticed the change in her mood.

****

"Hey, was it something I said?" he asked.

****

"No, I was just...oh never mind."

Oh Palmon, I miss you so much!

****

"You sure?"

****

"Yeah."

He's so much like the others. I can practically see everyone repeated in him. She perked up at the thought. He can be so...detached, not caring about anything (like Izzy), but the moment someone's hurt, he's there for them (qualities shared with Sora and Kari). He's as reliable as Joe, as cool as Matt... Maybe I could even him tell about the Digidestined.

Note: We're in Japan now, so everything's in Japanese. And I didn't follow the show to the tiniest details, so some stuff might not run true with the facts. And last time I checked, Joe was 12 and the others were 8-11 (or would that be 9-12 since they spent a year in the Digiworld before the whole 8th kid thing?). Enough of my senseless gobbledegook. Back to the story.

"Jin, are you okay?" asked Sora tentatively.

Jin was curled up on the ground, clutching his stomach. His eyes were closed, and the look on his face could only be described as agony.

Lui could only stare in stunned silence at Jin. That little jerk had just stolen his game! But Lui's anger quickly dissolved to worry and guilt. Is he okay? He moved forwards and crouched down next to Sora.

"Hey kid, that was one hell of a save." he said with a small smile.

Jin opened one eye at Lui's compliment.

"Thanks." he managed.

The other members of Tai's team came running over.

"Jin! How're you feeling?" asked Tai.

"Like I've just been hit in the stomach."

He sat up but immediately regretted it. The first-aid medic came running over.

"You think you can continue?" he asked.

"Gimme 5 minutes." replied Jin.

With the help of Sora and Oshi, Jin stood up and walked to the bench. A whistle blew and the referee ran up to Tai and Lui.

"The match's over but you lost five minutes. Do you want to continue into extra time?"

"No." said Tai and Lui at the same time.

T.K. sighed. Life wasn't the same without Patamon anymore. He looked out his bedroom window. It was a bright, sunny day. A stark contrast with his mood. He must have spent a year in total with his friend, yet it was only 2 months in reality. He stood up and looked in his mirror.

"Hot stuff." he said at his reflection.

He didn't really understand the phrase he had learned from TV, but according to Izzy it meant 'someone popular with girls'. And he wanted to look good for Suki's party. He smiled at the notion.

When he had first gotten the invitation he had almost said no there and then. He was still depressed about Patamon and just wanted to be left alone. But he hadn't, so now he, with the rest of his classmates, was going to her party. Besides, Kari would be going, and with Kari around T.K.'s loneliness wasn't so painful.

He exited his room and went into the living room. He noticed Matt STILL wasn't there yet. If he didn't arrive soon T.K. would have to leave without him.

And so their lives continued. The Digidestined, while still sad about their friends, carried on with their lives for a few months. Mimi and Ben quickly became friends due to their frequent 'dates', but nothing romantic. Of all the Digidestined, Joe had the most work. He was starting high school this year, and the sheer amount of homework at the new private school he was going to left little time for him worry about Gommamon or the others. But their lives weren't going to stay like this for long

Sorry about it being so short and that there's no action. I just wanted to get through the intro quickly, so that the next part gets to have LOTS of weird stuff and still be coherent. And don't forget, my e-mail's [Razorpack@excite.com][1] I accept ALL kinds of mail, including spam and flame, so write to me!

   [1]: mailto:Razorpack@excite.com



	3. ANOTHER Digidestined? Reality went AWO...

ANOTHER Digidestined?

Chapter 3:

Reality went AWOL

Legal crap: Digimon belongs to blablabla. Blancmon, Raedmon and Razormon belong to me, blablablabla and blah belongs to blablablabla.

Author's notes:

What the crap's Sorato, Mimoe, Taito and Takari? And all those other weird names from Digimon characters?

Why does everyone write Daisuken? AND WHAT THE CRAP IS IT?!?!?!?!

Now that's off my chest, on with the story. Oh yeah, the Digidestined are Japanese, so they speak Japanese. Duh. Whenever Ben speaks to Mimi, it's in Japanese. Oh yeah, the Digidestined got to keep their Digivices even though they can't go back to Digiworld (I dunno if that really happened in the show, but hey...) 

Falling in love again

And there's nothing I can do

Falling in love again

And this time it's with you

When I fall

It's always the same and I'm so tired

Of playing this game

Ben had been humming that for most of the day. It was the chorus of a song he had heard the day before on the radio.

"I choose...Troy."

"Mathew."

"Travis."

"John."

"And that leaves Ben. You're with Jake's team." said the teacher.

Ben mumbled an incoherent reply and moved towards the boys chosen by Jake.

"You ready for some B-ball?" asked his teammate.

"Of course he is, Troy. Get off his back." defended Andy.

"I dunno, he looks kinda spaced out." added Jake.

"I'm ok, really." answered Ben.

"Everybody ready?" called the teacher.

Jake and Benson walked to the center of the basketball court.

"Set... GO!"

He threw the ball into the air. Jake got to it first and passed it to Travis, and Travis started running as fast as he could.

"Travis you dork! YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!"

Travis ran to his side's own basket and jumped. He looked like he was going to slam dunk it, but instead he threw the ball to the center of the court. Ben caught it and ran in the right direction. Jake ran angrily up to Travis.

"You moron! What on earth where you thinking?"

"Chill it, kay? It was just a ruse. Everyone was chasing me so Ben's got an open shot."

The others seemed to notice this too. A few tried to catch up with Ben but he scored before they even made it halfway. Jake's team gave a collective cheer, and they commended Ben and Travis for their good work.

Another Time, Another Place (homage to the immortal Simon Furman, god of the Transformer writers)

*Driing! Driing!*

[Izumi residence. Who is speaking please?]

[Hi, this is Tai. Can I speak to Izzy?]

[I think so.] "Izzy! It's your friend Tai!"

"Is it important? I'm rather busy!" came the reply.

[He's busy. Can I take a message?]

[I want to know if he could come out this afternoon. Sora Takenouchi organised a small picnic and we'd like the whole gang to come.]

"Tai asks if you're free this afternoon!"

"What for?" called Izzy in return.

"A picnic with your friends."

Izzy contemplated the offer. He certainly wasn't getting anywhere with the task of re-opening the portal.

"Sure!"

[He can come.]

[It's at the park close to the fountain. At 3 o'clock.]

Matt and T.K. were walking together towards the park. They didn't say anything to each other the whole journey. When they arrived, they barely acknowledged Sora's greeting.

"What's with you guys?" asked Tai.

"..." replied Matt.

"Who else is coming?" asked T.K.

"Everyone except Mimi." answered Sora. "But Izzy and Joe aren't here yet." 

This isn't going as well as I thought. Where are Izzy and Joe?

"What's that?" asked Mimi.

"It's a WebCam. I can send not only e-mail, but video messages as well." replied Ben.

"How much did it cost?"

"Roughly fifty dollars."

"THAT much?"

"It's an Internet camera! If I wanted to, I could make my own TV show!"

"Computer freak." mumbled Mimi under her breath. He certainly wasn't as bad as Izzy but he spent a lot of time, effort and money on computers. She looked around his room. In the far corner, to the right, was his bed. She giggled. When she had seen it for the first time, she couldn't stop laughing. The bed itself was normal, but the sheets and pillow weren't.

"Are you going to stop staring at those?" asked Ben with a bite of annoyance in his voice.

Mimi smiled.

"It's just that I never thought you actually like Carebears. It _really_ isn't 'you'."

Ben sighed and checked his World Control Panel.

"It's roughly 3 in the afternoon there. I guess now's your chance."

Mimi yawned. It was 1 a.m. here. She hoped Izzy would be able to receive the transmission.

"Here goes nothing."

He sent the signal.

"Hey guys!"

Everyone turned to see Koushiro 'Izzy' Izumi walking towards them.

"Izzy! I was starting to think you weren't going to come!" replied Sora.

Izzy looked at everyone.

"Why all the long faces?"

"They're just depressed about Joe and Mimi." replied Tai. He grinned. "But I'm not gonna let that stop me from having a good time."

He reached into the hamper, and brought out a soda. Izzy sat down and took his Pineapple out of his bag.

"Don't you go ANYWHERE without that?" asked Kari.

"I'm just finishing off a search program that I'm writing." replied Izzy.

The computer let out a series of beeps.

"What the-"

Izzy's browser program activated.

"What's wrong?" asked Tai.

Tai, Sora and Kari gathered around Izzy.

"Someone's trying to send a message... VIDEO? This could be Gennai!"

Izzy's fingers flew over the keyboard.

Elsewhere...

"Well, they've received the transmission and are responding. You'll be able to talk to your friends in a minute."

Ben got up and started to walk out of the room.

"Aren't you going to meet them?" asked Mimi.

"Nah. I'll let you guys catch up on things without interfering. Besides, I need to get my bed ready."

He exited the room before she could protest any further.

"Mimi?" came a voice from the computer.

Mimi turned to it and waved.

"Hi Izzy!"

Although she couldn't see him, he could see her.

"Where are you?" he asked.

48 minutes later, Mimi came downstairs with a small bounce in her step and a huge smile on her face. Ben was watching a late-night comedy show on TV. As she came in, he turned off the TV and faced her.

"I take it went well." he commented.

{God, she's beautiful when she smiles.}

Mimi didn't reply. Instead she bent down and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Ben sat there, speechless.

"Thank you." said Mimi. "And goodnight."

She then went back upstairs, leaving a very shocked Ben.

Ben just sat there. Slowly he reached up and touched the place where she kissed him. Suddenly, reality went AWOL. He had never felt like this before, never. He knew now without a doubt that he was in love. He, a mere 5th grade kid, was in love with a Japanese girl!

{I love her.} He repeated the thought over and over. {I love her. IloveherIloveherIloveher!}

As he got into his makeshift bed, he contemplated the thought of confessing to Mimi.

"No," he said out loud. "I won't. It's too soon. I might scare her off, or-"

{Great. I hopelessly in love with her and I can't even tell her. Man, this is gonna be tough. Gah, I WILL scare her off. I'm too young to be in love.}

But that last thought didn't help much. Even if he was too young, he was still in love. If all those books he read were true, he'd either go insane, or stay quiet for so long that when he would tell her it'll be too late. Ben grimaced at the notion.

{I'm basing my predictions for the future on a bunch of romance novels. Ugh, I hate it when life goes like this.}

He could already feel it: if he didn't tell her soon, he'd go nuts. And then a horrible thought occurred.

"What if she dumps me?"

Time moved quickly for Ben. May became June almost instantly. The annual camping trip was coming soon. It was something of a surprise when Ben found out he was allowed to go. The school had set up this trip as a means to encourage the students to work harder at school. To even be invited one had to get at least an A- average. The extra work was worth it though: the lucky few that did come were treated to a week's worth of summer camp- weeks earlier than others. While the rest still had to go to school, do homework and sit through mind-numbingly boring lessons while it was a perfect summer day outside, the campers got to go hiking, fishing and all sorts of outdoor activities. Ben had jumped at the chance.

"So how long will you be gone?" asked Mimi.

"A week." replied Ben. They were in the lunch hall and Ben had just told her about the trip. "Are you coming?" he asked hopefully.

"No. I didn't get an invitation." Ben's hopes fell. He had thought that with all her extra effort and his help she'd been able to get good enough grades. "I got a C+ average."

Jake came to their table.

"Is this a private conversation?" he asked.

"No. Besides, you wouldn't understand us."

"Really? Come on, Japanese shouldn't be THAT hard. If a brainless numbskull like you can learn it, it should be as easy as pie for me."

"May I remind you that I got an invitation and YOU didn't?"

"That's below the belt, but I'll ignore it. Try me. Say something in Japanese." he coaxed.

"Okay, how about..." Ben said something that made Mimi succumb to a fit of giggles.

"Hmmm... You said that I'm good looking?" he guessed. That made Mimi laugh even harder.

"I swear, you are one TWISTED kid."

"Hey, you're the one that hangs with her 24 hours a day."

"What's wrong with that?" parried Ben.

"Ben and Mimi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-" started Jake. Ben blushed.

"Knock it off."

"Make me."

"Ya know, the language isn't the only thing I learned from Japan." Jake raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really?'

'Want me to try out some kung-fu techniques on you?"

"Nah, I'd wipe the floor with you."

"Wanna bet?"

"Sure. If I win, you have to write on the notice board in the entrance hall that you love Travis."

"That's it. I do NOT know you. You make me sick!"

"That's the idea."

At that moment the bell rang, interrupting their melee.

"Well, gotta go. Later, lovebirds."

Ben gave Jake a nasty glare as he walked off.

"Are you two really enemies?" asked Mimi.

"No, we get along fine actually. It's just that he can be a teeny bit annoying now and then. Come on, we gotta go to class."

Note: It should be obvious that Mimi speaks English to Christine.

Mimi reached for the doorbell. Now was the time. She held up her Digivice. She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that if she didn't tell him now, she never would. She pressed the buzzer and Ben's mother, Christine Curtis, opened the door.

"Hello Mimi."

"Hello Mrs Curtis. Is Ben here?"

"Yes. You can see him, but we're going out very soon."

"O.K."

She walked inside to see Ben packing a few things into his bag.

"Hi Mimi."

"Ben, there's something I'd like to tell you, but not here." she whispers in Japanese.

They walked upstairs to Ben's room. Ben closed the door and sat on his bed.

"What is it?"

Mimi put her Digivice on the table.

"Last year, during the summer-"

"Ben, we've got to leave now!" called Christine. "They're closing ten minutes early!"

"Damn. Sorry Mimi, but I have to go."

Ben ran out of the room, followed by Mimi. He raced outside and got in the car. Mimi came out of the house and Christine locked it. She sat in the driver seat and turned on the engine.

"See you next week!" shouted Ben as the car raced off. Mimi stood on the sidewalk. She started to walk home. Though she wasn't cold, a shiver danced up her back. She couldn't shake the feeling that that was the last time she'd see him.

Ben woke up with a start. He was having a dream that boys his age shouldn't be dreaming, when the alarm clock rang. He got up and stretched. He got dressed, turned on his computer and activated his e-mail. As usual, nothing serious, just a bunch of newsletters, and a letter from someone called Gennai. He was about to open it when his mother called him. He came downstairs to meet the mouthwatering smell of eggs and bacon.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"It's the last time you're going to have some decent food for a week. Besides, I couldn't help it." replied Christine. They chatted while they ate their breakfast.

"How am I getting to school?" he asked.

"You're walking. I've already sent your suitcase and bag to the school."

"Why?"

"I'm leaving for Atlantic City in 5 minutes. I won't be back until you come home."

"Oh."

Christine finished her plate, kissed him goodbye and left. Ben continued in silence. An hour later he was ready for the trip. He watched a bit of TV then remembered the e-mail message from Gennai. He looked at the clock. Half an hour to go. He went into his bedroom and picked up the Digivice on his table.

{Mimi must've forgotten this.}

He looked at the strange thing in his hand. Apparently it was important, as Mimi tried to talk to him about it the day before. He examined the device as he turned on his computer again. Ben couldn't make out what it was, other than it was electronic. It seemed to be very advanced, as if it came from the future. He put it up next to the WebCam on his computer monitor and initiated his e-mail program. He opened the Gennai message but never saw the contents. A bright light drew his attention upwards. The moment he had opened the message, the Digivice activated. Ben reached up and grabbed it. It was emitting a bright white light that quickly became blinding. He looked away, wondering what had triggered it, when the bright beam suddenly engulfed him.

The next thing Ben knew was that he was lying on his back. He was looking up at a dark grey sky, filled with angry-looking black clouds.

{Yow! What the hell happened?}

What had happened, indeed? He could only remember covering his eyes from the the strange light with his coat then POOF! he was here. Wherever 'here' was. He sat up and looked at the landscape around him. To his left was a forest, but not a forest like anything he had seen in real life. It seemed sub-tropical, but Ben remembered that he was too far north. Besides, Ben didn't recall there was a forest within 50 miles of his hometown. Stranger still, to his right was an extremely tall mountain. Ben certainly knew there weren't any mountains within 700 miles. To the denizens of this world, it was called Infinity Mountain. But right now, Ben could only guess at its name. His attention was drawn behind him.

*BZZZ*

He looked around again. Behind him was more forest, but in front was what looked like an often-used path that lead to a large building in the distance. Ben slowly walked in the direction of the buzzing. He walked between the strange trees, looking at everything. He walked into a clearing and gasped.

For the first time since he came here, panic and fear gripped him. He was lost, alone, and there wasn't anyone to help him. Furthermore, the biggest insect Ben had ever seen was crashing through trees at the other end of the clearing. It was multi-coloured, mainly red, and had huge pincers sticking out of its 'mouth'. It sensed a new presence and turned around. It saw Ben and charged. Ben, paralysed with fear, panic, shock and amazement, just stood and stared.

Did you like it? I tried to make up for the way-too-short-and-shallow parts with this one. It certainly isn't as long as most people's stories, but I write in short segments at a time. I'd like to apologise for this taking so long but I got caught up with other things. Send all the mail to razorpack@excite.com


	4. ANOTHER Digidestined? Freedom fighting

ANOTHER Digidestined

ANOTHER Digidestined?

Chapter 4:

Freedom Fighting

Legal crap: Digimon is copyrighted. My Digimon are Mine. This story is mine. As you can tell, I hate disclaimers. I have only two words for lawyers: screw you!

My ramblings:

My chapters always have been and always will be short. Don't like it? Tough. I wrote this chapter while I was listening to Limp Bizkit's new album (Hot Dog is one VERY fucking good song), which might explain any weirdness.

Joe opened a sleepy eye. He hadn't even gotten out of bed and he already knew that today was going to be bad. Gommamon would have told him to cheer up and stop being such a pessimist, but he hadn't seen his friend for almost a year. As he slowly got up and prepared for another tiring day of school, he thought about the adventures he had had with his partner. Despite the hardship of living in the wilderness, the constant danger and no food for days on end, Joe had to admit last summer was the best time of his life. Gommamon was his best friend, understood him better than anyone else. And Joe was never going to see him again.

As usual, his brief bouts of happiness were crushed by pain and loneliness. He would never admit it, but he missed Gommamon more than anything.

***

"Hey sleepyheads, wake up." A small white 'head' and a green and white 'plant' slowly got up. The head hopped out of a coat pocket and rubbed its eyes with its long 'ears'.

"Ya coulda given me 5 minutes! I was avin' dis great dream 'bout me an' a LadyDevimon 'avin'-"

The head stopped talking as it realised that those kind of dreams were better left unsaid. The black-haired human shook his head.

"Is getting laid the ONLY thing on your mind? Don't answer that." he asked. He turned to the plant. "Where DID you find him anyway?"

"In some ruins." she replied. "Ignore him, he's only a few months old."

"No way! I wuz alive before ye foun' me. I jes forgo' who I wuz an' why I became a Digi-egg 'gain... Damn, dat Lady wuz hot!"

The plant turned away in a revolted manner.

"You're as disgusting as a Numemon!"

"Knock it off. We need to get moving before any bad Digimon find us." the half-dressed human interjected.

He put on his dark green T-shirt, then proceeded to put on his socks and shoes. The head jumped on his shoulder.

"'Ave ye actually seen a LadyDevimon?" he whispered in the boy's ear.

"No."

"I'm telling ya, ye'd feel de same way if ya see one. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink."

"Hey Ben, come over here." the plant said.

The 12-year old walked over to where she was and crouched down besides her.

"What is it?"

"What's that?"

Ben peered over the edge of the boulder they were camped behind. In the distance, close to the buildings Ben saw when first he came to the Digiworld, was a large black something.

"It looks like some sort of cloud. Maybe there's a fire... Well, we won't find out if we don't get closer. Shall we investigate?"

"No. That's in the heart of the enemy's territory." the In-Training Digimon replied.

"So? I c'n get dere 'n' back in a day."

Tanemon looked at the Micro Digimon in disdain.

"You've only hatched a few months ago. How do you think you could get there and back?" she said.

The small creature grinned.

"I'm only a few inches tall. I'm too small for da baddies ta see me."

"Don't bother. I'm okay with taking risks, but that's suicide!" said Ben. He sighed.

"What's the matter?" she asked. She could tell that there was something more to the gesture than exasperation.

"I still haven't gotten over this completely."

"Ova whu'?"

"Everything! All these Digimon, trapped in some computer world, conversations with plants and heads... I've seen enough weirdness to last a lifetime. The next thing you're telling me, is that I'm one of those 'Digidestined' kids that saved the world last summer."

He shook his head and looked at the In-Training and Micro Digimon. He had only known them for a week, but he already felt a very strong emotional attachment with them. He tried to get his thoughts straight but failed. Instead, he concentrated on finding food and a new camp for them. He put on the coat, and the tiny Akromon bounced into the largest pocket. He reached down and gently put the small Tanemon on his shoulder.

"An' so yet anudder 'xcitin' day in de udderwise borin' life of Ben begins." said Akromon.

"You said it Kro." agreed Ben.

He climbed out from behind the boulder and walked towards the forest.

***

"SSHHIIITT!!!!!" Ben screamed.

*SPLASH*

The attacker turned its attention from Ben to his friends.

"Ben!" Akromon called. He hopped to the edge and looked down. He couldn't see him. "Tanemon! We needa ge' ouda 'ere!"

"What about Ben?" she replied, while dodging another Boom Bubble.

"I d'no! Whu' I DO know is we're dead if we don' run!"

Their white and orange attacker launched itself into the air. It flew up, then came swooping down on Tanemon. Akromon jumped in the way, though, and took the attack full on.

"NNOOO!!" Tanemon cried as Akromon was sent tumbling over the edge. She turned to her former friend. "Patamon, stop! Please!"

The gliding Digimon ignored her plea.

"Prepare for termination!" he said in a voice that wasn't his own. His body swelled up with air. "Boom Bubble! PAH!"

He blew it out in a single shot, knocking him back a few feet. The blast of compressed air slammed into the bridge a few feet from Tanemon. She started crying.

"I'm sorry Patamon..." she shouted through her tears. "...But you leave me no choice! Bubble Blow!"

A stream of pink bubbles were sent right at Patamon. Tanemon's aim was true, and Patamon fell to the ground. Unfortunately, she was only an In-Training while he was a Rookie, so her attack did little more than stun him. He got up again and prepared for another charge. As he flew up, a loud splashing could be heard. Patamon ignored it, and swooped down at Tanemon.

*BIFF*

"Ben!" she cried.

Patamon rubbed his sore cheek and looked up at the now-soaking and VERY angry Ben.

"Back off!" the boy snarled. As a reply, Patamon flew up and out of reach. He dived down at Ben, but he was ready for the charge. He waited for the right moment and grabbed Patamon in mid-air. Patamon started to struggle, but to no avail. Ben turned his attention to Tanemon. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she replied.

Coughing and spluttering, Akromon came bouncing out of the river. Patamon looked like he was going to try to fly again, but Ben adjusted his grip to cover the wings.

"Wha' dwe *cough* do *cough* wid 'm?" Akromon asked.

"I dunno." replied Ben. He wondered how something so cute and hopeful be so evil. "But he's certainly a danger to us." he continued.

Tanemon looked at Ben in distress, misinterpreting his tone.

"We can't hurt him! He's one of my friends."

Ben and Akromon's jaws dropped.

"'Xcuse me? Dis guy almost DROWNED us!"

"He wasn't always like this! Something's happened to him, like he's been hit by a Black Gear or-"

Patamon managed to get an arm free and started to scratch Ben's hand. Patamon and Akromon gasped as they the saw the arm: there was a black spiral enveloping it. It snaked from his paw up to his shoulder.

"Wha' in da name o' SaberLeomon is DAT?" Akromon asked.

Patamon gave up scratching Ben, and instead bit his left hand.

"Son of a bitch!" Ben swore. He tried to shake the bat-eared creature off, but he held on tight. Ben grabbed Patamon with his right hand and tried to pull him off. Patamon swiped at Ben's hand, trying to make him let go of him. His spiral-covered arm hit the Digivice strapped to Ben's wrist. It emitted a bright, yellow beam and the spiral was deleted. Patamon let go and was flung to the ground. He got back up and saw Tanemon.

"Tanemon?" he asked, his voice back to its normal state. "What happened?" He looked at Akromon and Ben, and saw the Digivice. "Hey, another Digidestined!" he said.

"Patamon?" Tanemon asked. "Are you okay?"

***

"...and that's all I remember." Patamon finished. "After that, it was like I was asleep. The next thing I can clearly recall is meeting you three."

It was nighttime, and the 3 Digimon and the human were sitting close to a log fire. Patamon had just finished explaining what had been happening for the past few months.

[Tanemon flashback]

After the Digidestined left, the Digimon had tried to continue with their lives. As the months went by Digiworld was completely restored. But all was not well. In January mysterious things had occurred. Some good Digimon went evil, others disappeared. Everyone had been wondering what was going on. Then it happened. In March many of the missing Digimon returned. They acted like zombies and attacked every 'free' Digimon they came across. Many were captured but most took refuge in Toy Town and Primary Village where the strongest of all good Digimon stood guard. Even the Destined Digimon where captured. Palmon managed to escape by hiding in some ruins, but she was so tired from fighting the 'zombies' she dedigivolved. That was where she found Akromon's Digi-egg. Once he hatched, the two lived in the forest until Ben came.

[end]

[Patamon flashback]

Patamon flew as fast as his wings could carry him. The other Destined Digimon were on the shore of the lake where Gabumon first digivolved. He soared out of the forest and warned the others of the three Kuwagumon coming their way. He had hardly finished when the bugs attacked. Everyone fought bravely, and Gatomon even managed to K.O. one of them, but then a Frigimon appeared and his Sub-Zero Ice Punch got them all. A Pepper Breath managed to free Agumon and Palmon but Agumon was caught again. The two conscious Kuwagumon picked up the ice block with the six Rookie Digimon and one Champion and flew it to Infinity Mountain. One by one the Digimon were freed and taken inside. When it was Patamon's turn, he was taken into a dark chamber. He heard someone say "Midnight-" from behind and then all went black.

[end]

Ben looked pensively at the Digivice he had strapped to his wrist.

{So these things are given to Digidestined, children from my world sent to the Digiworld by 'The Light', as Tanemon calls them. Once in a while, bad Digimon appear, their powers and ambitions so deadly that they threaten the very existence of both worlds. One Digimon, a powerful ghost called Myotismon, even managed to escape from the Digiworld and tried to conquer Earth. But why did The Light send me?}

Apparently, only Digidestined were able to go into the Digiworld, but Ben wasn't one. He didn't have a Digivice, a 'Crest' or a partner Digimon. All he had was Mimi's Digivice and a bunch of friends.

"Looks like there's a new head honcho in town. And unless I've missed my guess, Tanemon's the only Destined Digimon that wasn't caught by those Midnight Spirals." he spoke.

Tanemon nodded in agreement.

"That's probably how whoever makes them controls everyone." she said.

"This looks a lot like Devimon's work." Patamon said.

"Who's Devimon?" Ben asked.

"When T.K. and the others first came to the Digiworld, we had to fight a virus-type Digimon called Devimon. He used Black Gears to turn good Digimon into bad and break up File Island."

"You're right, the two are very similar. Do you think he might have returned?"

"No. I deleted him myself." Ben looked at him skeptically. "I did. I had digivolved to Angemon to protect T.K., then I deleted Devimon. It used up all my energy, so I turned back into a Digi-egg."

"Do you guys know any Digimon that use Midnight Spirals?"

Patamon and Tanemon said no, but Akromon got really nervous.

"Well, dere's dis one guy I knew. 'S name wuz Nigh'mon. Seriously bad-assed, ya know? Woulda made a Myo'ismon look cute'n'cuddly."

"So where is he?"

"Don' rememba. Guess I knew 'im 'fore I dedigivolved back to an egg. I'm no' even shur on 'is specs, like 'is lev'l an' dat."

Tanemon turned to Ben.

"Did you understand a single word of his gibberish?"

"Yep. Getting better at it all the time." Ben replied. He turned to Akromon. "So you're saying you know of a Digimon called Nightmon that uses Midnight Spirals, but remember nothing else?"

"Yup. I 'ate bein' senile."

The others laughed a bit, then turned in for the night.

***

The group of freedom fighters were walking through the forest again. Patamon flew ahead while Akromon and Tanemon peeked out of Ben's coat. Ben was thinking about the events that introduced him to Akromon and Tanemon. That first Digimon he saw was Kuwagumon, a nasty Champion Digimon. How long ago was it? A week? A month? Ben had lost track. But to his surprise he could remember exactly how it happened. How he scrambled to safety at the last moment. How the bug's giant red foot hit him and knocked him out. He recalled the moment when he woke up and met Akromon and Tanemon. Boy did he freak out.

"Ben?" Akromon asked.

"What?" he replied.

"Whuz'up?"

"I was thinking about the first few days here."

Akromon chuckled.

"Ye gave de word 'scaredycat' a noo meenin'."

Ben was silent for a moment.

"Do you guys have the feeling we're being watched?" he asked.

Patamon glided close to Ben.

"Yeah." he replied.

Ben continued walking. As he passed a large bush, he quickly grabbed Patamon and dived in it.

"Ssh." he told the others.

Soon enough they saw a Vegiemon stealthily hopped from one tree to another. It jumped out of the tree when it couldn't find them. Looking around, it searched the treetops.

"Where are they?" came the voice that Patamon had when he was 'Spiralled'.

A Garbagemon noisily slammed next to Vegiemon.

"Lost them." replied Vegiemon in the same cold voice.

Garbagemon narrowed its eyes. Vegiemon suddenly turned around and bounced away. Garbagemon looked closely at something in the ground. He then straightened up and brought his cannon to bare.

"Junk Chunker!"

A large piece of pink sludge slammed into a tree close to the bush Ben and the Digimon were hiding in. The tree fell over, almost flattening them. Luckily the branches of the tree were right between them and Garbagemon. Carefully and quietly, Ben and Patamon slowly crawled out of the bush and entered a more dense part of the forest. Once Ben was sure that they were safe he sat down.

"Whoah. That was a close shave." he said.

"Ugh, that Garbagemon reeked. And he was too messy for my liking." Tanemon commented.

Ben laughed. {She's so much like Mimi.} He suddenly got a vacant look.

"Jeez, 'e's gone 'gain." Akromon said.

"What are you talking about?" Patamon asked.

"'E cons'an'ly stops movin' und jes sits un stares."

"Every now and then Ben gets submerged in his thoughts. I think he keeps on thinking about someone." Tanemon explained.

"Poor kid. 'E'z 'ad nigh'mares ev'ry nigh' since 'e came 'ere." The two small Digimon climbed out of Ben's coat. "When 'e goes like dat, nuddin shord uva scream in 'iz ear'll snap 'im ouda id."

"Who is he thinking about?" Patamon wondered.

"Probably his family." Tanemon replied.

{Man, it gets more painful by the day. I miss Jake, Travis- hell, everyone!}

Ben's thoughts wandered back to Mimi. She was on his mind almost every minute, and it hurt!

{Why in God's name do I love her? I'm too young, I've only known her for almost a year... WHY? I miss her more than anything. Life was SO much less complicated when I was just a Sub-Op in Rogue Squadron.}

Patamon sniffed the air.

"Do you guys smell that?"

Akromon sniffed as well.

"Yeah. I jes realised I go' a MAJOR case uv da munchees."

"It smells like burnt fish."

"You guys go check it out. I'll stay here with Ben." Tanemon stated.

Patamon and Akromon bounced and hopped to the origin of the nice smell. Once they were out of earshot Patamon glided down close to Akromon.

"How is he coping?"

"Hoo? Ben? Nah, no' really. I t'ink 'e misses 'iz 'ome more ev'ry day."

They continued walking for a while, the smell getting stronger all the time.

"What level are you?" Patamon asked suddenly.

"I'm a Micro. Why?"

"It seems a bit wierd to me that you haven't already digivolved. Every other Digimon evolves to In-Training almost immediately after they're born."

"I jes don' 'ave de strength. Ben, Tanemon and me 've bin starvin' most uv de time. Itz real hard ta ge' food wid all de bad Digimon around nowadays."

They entered a small clearing. On the other side was a small logfire with some fishing roasting on a spit. Akromon's mouth watered and he immediately hopped towards the fire as fast as he could.

"No, wait!" Patamon warned. He chased after Akromon and quickly caught up with him. Just as they got within a meter from the roasting fish a wire net was sprung and wrapped around Akromon and Patamon.

"Help!" they cried out.

End Chapter 4


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